OBJECTIVE (S): Due to the commonly held notion that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have low risk of HIV acquisition, we compared the prevalence of HIV infection among people with and without IDD. We also examined health status and health service use among the HIV-infected group. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study using linked administrative health and social services databases. METHODS: We compared HIV prevalence between Ontario adults with IDD (n=64,008) and a 20% random sample of Ontario adults without IDD...

BACKGROUND: Symmetry between the left and right side of the body during locomotion is key in a coordinated gait cycle and is also thought to be important in terms of efficiency. Although previous studies have identified aspects of the gait cycle which are atypical in children and adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), studies have not considered whether this could be explained by asymmetrical gait. METHOD AND PROCEDURE: The current study included 62 participants with and 62 without DCD (aged 7-34 years)...

Hurler syndrome is an inherited autosomal recessive disorder of lysosomal accumulation of un-degraded glucosaminoglycan secondary to deficiency of a-L-Iduronidase enzyme. It is most severe form of Mucopolysaccharidosis with incidence of 1:100 000. It has multisystemic involvement leading to multiple deformity, disability and death within 10th years of life. A 2 year old boy presented with umbilical hernia, gross developmental delay and a progressive spinal deformity. On detailed clinical, radiological and laboratory investigation he was diagnosed as Hurler's syndrome...

Movement skill difficulties in children [or developmental coordination disorder (DCD)] often persist into adulthood (in up to 70% of cases). The suggestion of white matter microstructure alterations in children with DCD raises the question of whether similar alterations are present in adults with probable DCD (pDCD). Twelve adults with pDCD and 11 adults without pDCD underwent diffusion tensor imaging. The results showed that the pDCD group had significantly lower fractional anisotropy in the corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus and lower mean diffusivity in the internal capsule and inferior longitudinal fasciculus...

BACKGROUND: Gross motor skills are fundamental to childhood development. The effectiveness of current physical therapy options for children with mild to moderate gross motor disorders is unknown. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature to investigate the effectiveness of conservative interventions to improve gross motor performance in children with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders. METHODS: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted...

Motor stereotypy behaviors are patterned, coordinated, repetitive behaviors that are particularly evident in those with an autistic spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities. The extent to which motor stereotypy behavior severity is associated with motor skills and maladaptive behavior, measures of adaptive functioning, along with fundamental movement skills and degree of autistic spectrum disorder symptomology is assessed in this preliminary report. Twelve participants, aged 7 to 16 years, with a reported motor stereotypy behavior and either mild or severe intellectual disability comprising developmental or global delay took part in the study...

We critically review the research literature that seeks to focus on the possible cause of children diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). In so doing we contrast the traditional information processing (IP) approach as a model to explain the causal factors that account for the motor deficits present in children with DCD, with a dynamical systems (DS) account which argues that coordination deficits in children with DCD is less to do with problems of poor internal models (a cornerstone of IP theory) and more with a degrading of perception-action coupling...

Neurodiversity, a term initially used mostly by civil and human rights movements since the 1990s, refers to the notion that cognitive as well as emotional properties characteristic of developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are not necessarily deficits, but fall within normal behavioural variations exhibited by humans. The purpose of the present article is to examine the relevance of this notion to scientific research on ASD. On the assumption that one crucial survival advantage of intelligent activity is vigilance toward dangers in the external world, and such vigilance must work in the social domain as well as in the non-social domain, the author argues that the pattern of operation of an individual person's mind can be categorized according to the domain toward which that individual is more oriented...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in children with obesity and to compare body mass index (BMI) and metabolic profile in the children. METHODS: Seventy-six children (37 girls, 39 boys) were consecutively recruited from a university outpatient clinic specialized in severe obesity. Neurodevelopmental disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) were assessed using interviews and questionnaires...

: Motor coordination deficits that characterize children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affect their quality of participation. The aim of the current study was to identify play characteristics of young children with DCD, compared to those of children with typical development in three dimensions: activity and participation, environmental factors and children's impairments. METHOD: Sixty-four children, aged four to six years, participated. Thirty were diagnosed as having DCD; the remaining 34 children were age, gender and socioeconomic level matched controls with typical development...

INTRODUCTION: Balance is one of the main problems of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). According to process-oriented approach, besides strength training, neuromuscular adaptations can improve balance. OBJETIVE: To evaluate the effects of strength training on improving static and dynamic balance in DCD children. METHODS AND POPULATION: Children between 7 to 9 years old in Tehran participated in the study through randomized controlled trial design...

BACKGROUND: Active video games (AVGs) have been identified as a novel strategy to improve motor skill and physical activity in clinical populations. A recent cross-over randomized trial found AVGs to be ineffective at improving motor skill and physical activity in the home-environment for children with or at-risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD). AIMS: The study purpose was to better understand why the intervention had been ineffective by examining the quantity and quality of AVG play during an AVG intervention for children with or at-risk for DCD...

The diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is based on poor motor coordination in the absence of other neurological disorders. In order to identify the presence of movement difficulties, a standardised motor assessment is recommended to determine the extent of movement problems which may contribute to deficits in daily task performance. A German version of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (German BOT-2) was recently published. This study aimed to determine the ecological validity of the German BOT-2 by considering the relationship between assessment of fundamental motor skills with the BOT-2 and performance of everyday motor activities as evaluated by parents...

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by poor motor proficiency that interferes with an individual's activities of daily living. These problems in motor coordination are prevalent despite children's intelligence levels. Common symptoms include marked delays in achieving motor milestones and clumsiness, typically associated with poor balance, coordination, and especially handwriting skills. Currently, DCD is said to impact about 2-7% of school-age children...

Left-right asymmetry is a phenomenon that has a broad appeal-to anatomists, developmental biologists and evolutionary biologists-because it is a morphological feature of organisms that spans scales of size and levels of organization, from unicellular protists, to vertebrate organs, to social behaviour. Here, we highlight a number of important aspects of asymmetry that encompass several areas of biology-cell-level, physiological, genetic, anatomical and evolutionary components-and that are based on research conducted in diverse model systems, ranging from single cells to invertebrates to human developmental disorders...

The ability to use advance information to prepare and execute a movement requires cognitive control of behaviour (e.g., anticipation and inhibition). Our aim was to explore the integrity of saccadic eye movement control in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children (8-12 years) and assess how these children plan and inhibit saccadic responses, the principal mechanisms within visual attention control. Eye movements and touch responses were measured (separately and concurrently) in Cued and Non-Cued conditions...

INTRODUCTION: There is substantial evidence to support the relationship between transcription skills (handwriting and spelling) and compositional quality. For children with developmental coordination disorder, handwriting can be particularly challenging. While recent research has aimed to investigate their handwriting difficulties in more detail, the impact of transcription on their compositional quality has not previously been examined. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine compositional quality in children with developmental coordination disorder and to ascertain whether their transcription skills influence writing quality...

OBJECTIVE: To determine associations of unmet needs for child or family health services with (1) adverse family financial and employment impacts and (2) child behavioral functioning problems among US children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental delay (DD), and/or intellectual disability (ID). METHOD: This was a secondary analysis of parent-reported data from the 2009 to 2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs linked to the 2011 Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis and Services...

OBJECTIVES: Previous research has shown children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have lower cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) than typically developing (TD) children. This has been hypothesized to be due to an activity deficit, whereby poor motor functioning discourages children from participating in physical activities, but this hypothesis has not been directly tested. In this study, we use longitudinal data to measure the extent to which physical activity explains differences in CRF between children with and without motor coordination deficits...

Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) has become the primary cause of visual impairment and blindness in children in industrialized countries. Its prevalence has increased sharply, due to increased survival rates of children who sustain severe neurological conditions during the perinatal period. Improved diagnosis has probably contributed to this increase. As in adults, the nature and severity of CVI in children relate to the cause, location and extent of damage to the brain. In the present paper, we define CVI and how this impacts on visual function...